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Youngstown schools recovery plan approved
By Denise Dick
YOUNGSTOWN
The state superintendent of public instruction has approved an updated academic plan for the city school district that strips the school board of much of its authority.
On Monday, Richard Ross approved without comment the plan that was submitted to him Oct. 2 by the Youngstown City School District Academic Distress Commission.
John Charlton, a spokesman for the Ohio Department of Education, said a more-formal announcement of the plan’s approval will be made at the Nov. 20 commission meeting.
Under the plan, all administrative appointments will be recommended to and approved by the commission, not the city school board. That includes principals, leadership or special assistance positions. In recent months, the commission had appointed a handful of principals who had been recommended by Superintendent Connie Hathorn but rejected by the school board.
It also gives the commission, not the school board, authority over academic decisions.
“Recommendations about curriculum, instruction and assessment as well as matters regarding support services for students will be presented by the superintendent to the YADC for their approval,” the document says.
The number of paid school board meetings will be limited to two per month except under certain circumstances, such as hiring a superintendent or treasurer or for board meetings called for training purposes. Board members are paid $125 each per meeting.
Richard Atkinson, school board president, said the changes mean the board will work in cooperation with the commission and move forward.
“It will just change some of the way we do business,” he said.
Board members’ reactions to the changes vary, Atkinson said. But he said the changes already have produced better communication between the two bodies.
It also lists short and long-term goals to improve the district’s academic performance.
Long-term goals list high marks for improvement by the end of the 2016-17 school year. Those include a Performance Index score of 85 for two consecutive years, a value-added rating of “C” for two consecutive years, meeting proficient standards in 14 out of 22 academic performance indicators and raising the four-year graduation rate above 80 percent.
Annual goals for the district as outlined in the plan include improving the climate and culture of the schools and district, reducing by 10 percent per year over the next three years student offenses resulting in school suspensions and increasing the percentage of students proficient in mathematics by an average of 11 percent among others. The 2013-14 Ohio Achievement Assessment/Ohio Graduation Test results are the baseline.